Shattered Brotherhood
by Encalamah
Summary: Sentinel Mark Colvin is the finest battlefield commander in the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. After the chapter acquires some powerful pre-war tech, Colvin may be the only one who can stop a plot which threatens to doom his chapter and steal that technology.
1. Chapter 1

War… war never changes.

Ghouls, supermutants, people, it didn't matter. Killing was killing. Having advanced weaponry and equipment to do it didn't make it any better, it didn't numb you to the death, the gore, the atrocity. It was difficult, but it had to be done. That was what Sentinel Colvin always told himself. It's what he was telling himself right then in that moment, as he was lost in thought, the voice in his mind drowning out the whir of the Vertibird's rotors. He was fiddling with the right gauntlet of his power armor, flexing the servos in the fingers open and closed to make sure it was working properly. Armor failure in the middle of battle was something no member of the Brotherhood of Steel wanted.

"Five minutes" he heard the lancer bark over his helmets radio.

Five minutes to touchdown, five minutes to more carnage and bloodshed, more killing. It didn't get any easier. Content with his gauntlet the Sentinel looked up and directed his attention to the three other soldiers in the Vertibird's hold with him. All were concealed inside their own suits of power armor, but Colvin could recognize each member of his squad regardless. It wasn't just the fact that each of them had slightly differing parts to their armor, he had served with them for so long, he could have recognized them just by the way they sat, the way they acted. These were his brothers and sisters, they had all been forged in battle together.

"Are you having some armor trouble Sentinel?" Knight O'Harra asked.

"No, I'll be fine" Colvin answered confidently, "how about you Knight, are you battle ready?"

"Yes sir!" O'Harra sat up a bit straighter, he was eager for combat, just got promoted to Knight, Colvin couldn't fault him for his enthusiasm. He had been like that once, a long time ago before years of fighting had tempered his demeanor into something different. Colvin turned to his other squad members.

"How about you Knight Torres?"

"Ready sir," she answered.

"Dobson?"

"Five by five Sentinel," he answered, adding a thumbs up.

"Good, let's be careful down there, no heroics," they couldn't tell because of the helmet, but Colvin was looking at O'Harra when he said that. All three of them nodded in agreement.

The Vertibird began to turn as it circled the landing zone. Colvin looked out over the side to see dozens of figures milling about down below.

"Torres, let's clear the LZ" Colvin motioned at the mounted chaingun.

"With pleasure sir" she answered as she took hold of the weapon's handles and checked to make sure it was ready to fire.

Each burst from the barrels lasted only a few seconds, but released dozens of rounds at the targets below. With every burst a figure below exploded into a puff of red mist and viscera. Torres hooted with joy as her targets were destroyed one by one. Within 48 seconds the landing site was clear of anything living, all that remained was a pool of red and piles of mangled flesh. The bird touched down with a thud and a shudder, and all four of them piled out. Colvin's massive armored foot crunched down on something as he got out. He looked down to inspect the skull he had flattened under his weight.

Ghouls. It was ghouls today.

I didn't matter, tomorrow it would be something else. Right now it was about survival, and that meant killing every ghoul in sight. The Brotherhood brought order and civilization to the wasteland, and ghouls had no place in it. The other two Vertibirds touched down and released their cargo; two more squads. Inferno and Wyvern squads, each led by Paladins Wright and Yin respectively. Colvin led Mammoth squad, and like his the other two squads included their team leader and three Knights. Normally this many squads weren't deployed together, but today they needed to clear the area of hostiles quickly and effectively. A single Brotherhood squad was a force to be reckoned with, three squads was like a force of nature.

"Alright Mammoth," Colvin said, "take it slow, and watch each other's backs, everyone comes home tonight."

All three squads fanned out into a standard sweep formation, spaced out evenly in a line to provide optimum field of fire for everyone. They made their way toward the target building, an old West Tek facility believed to house large amounts of pre-war relics. With all the ghoul activity nearby, it was unlikely that scavengers had gotten to any of it yet. As they approached the entrance a large mob of ghouls, attracted by the sound of the gunfire, rushed out of multiple holes and exits in the building's facade. All at once the three squads opened fire, easily cutting down every ghoul within seconds. Without stopping their advance they neutralized all the targets and reached the entrance.

"Area clear" Colvin said after a few moments. He turned to survey his teams. He took a minute to plan out their next move. He could tell they were getting impatient when Paladin Yin spoke up.

"Orders Sentinel?" she asked with a hint of urgency.

"Alright," Colvin said as he finished his plan of attack, "Mammoth will go in the front, Wyvern, go around back and see if you can find another way in, we'll clear the building and meet inside, Inferno, set up a perimeter and make sure we don't attract any unwanted attention."

All three squads broke up and went off to their duties. As Wright began giving orders, Wyvern made their way around the building and went out of view. Colvin led his squad to the front door. With a sharp kick the door flew open and Mammoth moved inside.

The interior was pitch black, requiring them to turn on their headlamps. In the pallid light Colvin inspected what appeared to be the main lobby. A reception desk nearby had a terminal on it. After a closer look he discovered it was undamaged, and after wiring it to his power armor's energy system he was able to turn it on. Nothing special to be found, office memos, the usual stuff, but with the right tools they could find what they were looking for. He removed a holodisk from one of his suit pouches and inserted it into the terminal. It was one of the scribes' creations, an infiltration subroutine which would connect this terminal to the facility's entire network, allowing him to access all the files there directly.

In just a few minutes the screen displayed dozens of files that each contained masses of information. Colvin went straight for the file labeled "Active Projects". Inside he found swathes of technical readouts and descriptions. These would need to be taken right away, he loaded another holodisk that would automatically transfer all the files from the server to the disk. As the information was moved, something caught Colvin's eye. He scrolled back to the text. "Project Maximus: PRIORITY 1 IMPORTANCE - Unassigned Personnel are to report to sublevel 3."

"Looks like we're going to sublevel three Mammoth," Colvin said, "let's find a way down there."

Past the lobby was a large square atrium, the ceiling of which reached to the top of the building, with skylights at the top allowing some meager light to shine down through the tarnished glass. On each level was a walkway that wrapped all the way around the atrium.

"Contacts" Dobson grunted. The team turned to see a pair of ghouls come out of a nearby bathroom. O'Harra and Torres quickly dispatched them. The shots attracted more of them, and soon all the walkways in the atrium on every floor were swarming. The ghouls dropped from the upper storeys with no heed for their own safety, and as the first few were killed by the impact their corpses cushioned the fall for those that followed. As they were surrounded Mammoth instinctively positioned themselves in a circle, facing outward to cover every direction. The ghouls surged forward screaming and thrashing, but were gunned down before they got close enough to do any damage. They didn't stop coming, more and more poured out of every possible entrance. Suddenly a torrent of gunfire erupted on Colvin's right, as Wyvern squad burst into the atrium to provide support. With the combined fire of all eight of them the ghouls were massacred.

Within 3 minutes the whole exchange was over. The atrium was littered with the mangled corpses of at least fifty ghouls. Pieces of their frail bodies, limbs, organs, were scattered across couches and tables. Colvin took the scene in coldly, it was nothing new to him. At least this time it was ghouls instead of actual people. He always hated going against raiders. Sure they were cruel and monstrous, but something about killing people in a world with so few people left just felt off, like it was counter-productive. The bombs couldn't wipe out humanity, so humanity would do it itself? His thoughts were interrupted as Yin and her squad strode forward.

"Look like you owe me one Sentinel," he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Thanks for the assist Wyvern," Colvin answered to the whole squad, "we've got a new target, sublevel three, they were working on something called 'Project Maximus', it seemed highly important."

"Let's find our way down then" Yin said, "Wyvern, let's fan out and find a staircase, looks like the elevator is a no go."

Looking toward the vestibule Colvin saw that the elevator car had fallen from one of the top floors some time ago, and was hanging precariously from a snag it had caught on the second floor. Definitely not the way to go. He sent Mammoth out on a search path as well, and slowly they made their way around the main level. Colvin was moving down a hallway when he heard a shout from a doorway to the left. Entering in he saw O'Harra staring at the decaying corpse of a supermutant that had been left slumped against a wall.

"It's dead Knight," Colvin said flatly, causing O'Harra to spin around to face him with another shout.

"Yes sir," he said after realizing who it was, "sorry sir, just startled me is all."

"It's alright, just don't get too jumpy, you're a Brotherhood Knight, that means discipline."

"Yes sir," O'Harra said as Colvin strode forward to inspect the body. It looked like the ghouls had been feeding on it, but decided it didn't taste too good. He didn't blame them. What was a supermutant doing in here anyway?

"Wright," Colvin called over the radio.

"Yes Sentinel?" Wright's voice came through roughly on his helmet's speakers.

"We've got a dead supermutant in here, any signs of activity on the perimeter?"

"No sir, I've got Star and Halden posted at the rear, and Genovich is sweeping around the building, they haven't reported anything."

"Roger that, keep me posted, we'll be out soon."

"Copy, Wright out."

"Worried about something Sentinel?" O'Harra asked.

"Just a feeling Knight," Colvin answered distantly, "our mutant friend here doesn't get along with ghouls, and I find it hard to believe he was here alone. Let's find that stairway."

After five or so minutes Knight DePonte of Wyvern squad reported that he'd found an accessible stairwell. Both teams converged on his location and made their way down to sublevel three. They didn't encounter any more ghouls on the way. Sublevel three was a large space dominated by machines that appeared to be some sort of turbines, it wasn't like anything Colvin had seen before. The various tubes, wires, and coils didn't look anything like nuclear generator components, in fact it reminded Colvin of the plasma weapons they held in the chapter armory more than anything else.

A green glow illuminated the wall at the far end of the room behind one of the machines. As Colvin took a step forward to investigate, the source of the light turned the corner, a green iridescent ghoul. Colvin immediately went into battle mode, raising his laser rifle and aiming dead center at the thing's head.

"We've got a Glowing One," Yin shouted as she took up a firing position on Colvin's left. The Glowing One rushed forward at Yin, lifting its hand to swing. She raised an arm to block the blow, but as soon as her armor made contact with the ghoul's flesh the plate on her forearm began to melt into slag. She gave out a scream of agony as the heated metal seared the flesh inside. She gave the thing a heavy kick, throwing it back a few feet.

"That's no Glowing One," she shouted, "what the fuck is that thing?"

"Open fire!" Colvin barked as he pulled Yin back behind the Knights. She was clutching her deformed left bracer. As the six Knights all began shooting at the ghoul, Colvin moved Yin's hand away and inspected the damage to her arm. The plate was warped, and a lot of it had simply liquified and come off. Using his armor's enhanced strength he tore the bracer off and inspected the flesh underneath in the light of his headlamp. Thankfully the armor's frame hadn't been affected, and while the burns were pretty severe, it wasn't going to affect the arm long term.

"You'll live," he told her calmly, "it'll remind you not to take ghouls lightly."

Yin gave a short chuckle that turned into a groan as the nerves around the burn began to enflame. Colvin left her to sit and recover while he turned his attention back to the ghoul. Although at this point there no longer was a ghoul, there was a puddle. The combined fire of all six Knights had reduced their Glowing One to a pile of neon green goo. After a quick sweep of the room to ensure no more of the creatures were around, they gathered around the puddle.

"No one gets near it," Colvin ordered, placing his hand on an eager O'Harra's shoulder. "You saw what it did to Yin's arm, I'm not going to risk anyone touching it. Let's look for any tech we can grab, if the scribes want this thing, they can come the hell back here and get it themselves."

They searched the room for anything that looked useful or important. Knight Valacity found a filing cabinet full of schematics and blueprints, and Dobson found several sealed metal containers with "Maximus" stenciled on their sides. On a work table littered with tools Colvin found a strange cylinder hooked up to one of the large machines with wires. He held it up in his spotlight for a better look. It seemed familiar.

"Now what do you make of this Torres?" he asked his nearby squadmate. She looked at it for a few moments before answering.

"It… Sort of looks like a fusion core."

"My thought exactly," he said agreeingly, "and if West Tek made power armor, and power armor runs on fusion cells, then it is logical to assume that West Tek was working on some sort of prototype cores to use in their armor."

"Makes sense to me sir," Torres agreed.

"Sentinel Colvin come in," Paladin Wright's voice broke in on the radio.

"Go ahead Paladin."

"Sir, we've got muties moving around on the west perimeter, I suggest bugging out fast, looks like they're coming in force."

"Alright, call in the birds for a hot pick up, we're grabbing what we found and coming up, meet at the front entrance, and tell the Lancers to have a medpack ready."

"Someone get hurt?" He asked with a concerned tone.

"Yeah, Yin."

"Will she make it?"

"She'll be fine, she's had a lot worse."

"I can hear you boys," Yin said surlily.

"We'll be up in five minutes Wright," Colvin said, ignoring Yin's comment.

"Roger that, we'll be ready for you up here."

Each Knight grabbed one or two of the sealed metal crates, Colvin picked up the filing cabinet full of documents and hoisted with one arm. Yin carried her laser rifle with her good hand to give them cover fire if they needed it. They quickly but carefully made their way back up to the atrium and went out the front doors. Outside Inferno was waiting, set up in a standard defensive formation. The ghoul remains on the landing zone were rotting in the wasteland sun, and Colvin had to shut the external air filters on his suit to keep himself from vomiting from the stench.

"Welcome to our slice of paradise Sentinel," Wright greeted them.

"ETA on the Vertibirds?" Colvin asked.

"About five minutes, just in time, those mutants are getting close, I'd say we have a fight ahead of us."

"Alright, let's get set up then. Inferno cover left, Mammoth will cover the center, and Wyvern cover right."

The Knights put down the containers and went to their designated positions. On the horizon they could see figures approaching. Within a minute the forms of supermutants were easily identifiable. They came within earshot then stopped as they surveyed the scene at the landing zone. The one in the lead growled in anger.

"Someone killed filthy ghouls already, can't avenge our brothers now! Who killed ghouls?!"

"We did" Colvin set his helmet to boost the sounds of his voice, "this location now belongs to the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Stupid metal men!" The mutant leader shouted. "We hear of you, we hate you, we kill you! Supermutants are strong, you are weak-"

The discharge of Colvin's laser rifle interrupted the mutant's ravings as a laser bolt blew cleanly through his skull, leaving a smoking hole between his eyes. The hulk fell face forward into the piles of rotting ghoul remains, it's body twitching lifelessly. The other supermutants roared in anger and charged forward. All three squads opened fire. A few mutant hounds ran forward ahead of their masters, but were easily shot down. The mutants tossed a few grenades as they ran forward, but they were poorly aimed, and as the blasts went off in random locations the pieces of thrown up dirt and ghoul bits bounced harmlessly off their power armor.

Most of the mutants carried crude clubs and boards, so while the few with guns stayed back and fired wildly, the others charged forward in a blind rage. One of the mutants ran directly for Colvin, most likely looking to avenge his leader, and swung downward with a spiked board. Colvin easily caught it mid swing and snapped it as if it were a twig. Undaunted, the supermutant swung again with the remaining broken piece. Colvin caught it by the wrist, and with an open palmed strike he slammed upward into the mutant's elbow, snapping the arm backward and causing its radius bone to burst out in a gush of blood. It dropped the splintered piece of club and screamed in pain. Without hesitation it lifted its good arm and took a wild swing at Colvin. He caught the fist in his hand and squeezed until he heard its hand bones snapping. The supermutant screamed even louder and in desperation began slamming its head into Colvin's helmet. With such a large and thick skull the impacts had an effect even in power armor. Colvin's vision blurred and his visor began to crack slightly. Right as the beating came close to being too much, the mutant seemed to stagger a bit, even it couldn't take that beating forever, and the pain from a broken arm and a mutilated hand wouldn't help. In that moment of respite Colvin took his chance. With a swift uppercut he slammed the mutant in the jaw, more bones broke. It staggered backwards and fell to a knee. He grabbed the thing's head with both hands, and as it stared into his visor with a look of searing hatred he fluidly snapped the mutant's neck. It crumpled to the ground, and Colvin wiped the mutant blood off his visor to get a look at the situation around him.

All the supermutants who had charged his troops lay dead around him, not a single friendly injury. The mutants who had guns were still up and fighting though, and were grouped together behind a rusted out truck shooting at their position. In the distance Colvin heard the distinct droning of Vertibird rotors. Their transport flew into view within a minute. One of the birds turned its side to face the entrenched supermutants, and a Lancer on the minigun opened fire. In seconds the group of mutants was shredded into meat, and the Vertibirds came in for a pick up.

They loaded the retrieved items on board and climbed in. The flight back to Seattle was silent. It was only a half hour away, and no one ever really liked talking after battles. So they simply sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts, letting the adrenaline wear off. Now that the mission was finished, Colvin was looking forward to learning what exactly they had found, and getting cleaned up and fed. The flight passed by quickly, it always seemed to go faster going home than leaving, and soon the shape of the Tower could be seen out the window. The Tower was the central headquarters for the Northwest Pacific chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, and it was built in what was formerly known as the Space Needle. It was a big tourist attraction before the war, now it was a military command center. Elder Andrews and all the other leaders of the chapter had their meetings and battle assessments at the top. The rest of the chapter was housed and operated in a compound built around the base of the Tower.

The circular top portion of the Tower also served as a landing pad for the chapter's four Vertibirds. With only four birds on station, the Elder's decision to send three of them on the same mission had been seen as a bit irrational. It better have been worth it. Colvin would most likely need a new helmet, and Yin was lucky to only need a new arm plate, and not a new arm. The Vertibirds touched down on the landing pad and all three squads made their way out, taking the cargo with them, to present to the Elder. While the scribes looked over their findings, Colvin and his squad returned their power armor to their repair stations, and got some food. After their meal they were summoned up to the command deck to meet with the Elder.

They exited the elevator to find Elder Andrews and Head Scribe Nurian present, as well as both Inferno and Wyvern squads. Even Paladin Yin was present, a bandage wrapped over her burned arm. The Elder greeted them and asked them to gather around with the others.

"Now," the Elder began, "do you have any idea what it is you found Sentinel? It was quite a wealth of information."

"No Elder, although I speculated that this Project Maximus had something to do with fusion cores."

"Ah, and right you are, or at least to a degree," the Elder said with a smile, he turned to Nurian, "what exactly are these devices then Belthian?"

"They are some sort of power source. We know that they incorporate the same kind of plasma technology that our standard plasma weaponry does," she began calmly, "but that is not the truly amazing thing, they are designed to fit into every suit of power armor as a normal fusion core would, but they are incredibly more efficient and powerful compared to their nuclear counterparts."

"How much more efficient?" Colvin asked, his interest piqued at the prospect of improving their power armor.

"We are unsure of the exact measurements without further testing, but based on my observations, I'd wager that one of these cells could potentially power a suit of armor for months- years even perhaps!"

Everyone in the room seemed to catch their collective breathe at once. One cell powering a suit of armor for years? That would open the doors to much more extended use and deployment in combat. No need to resupply for new cores, this could change everything about how the Brotherhood's soldiers could operate in the field.

"Very impressive," the Elder coode, "but the important question is, can we produce more than what we have found here?"

Nurian looked at the Elder and smiled confidently.

"Yes Elder, I believe we can."

 **A/N: Hello folks, author here. This is the first part in a pretty lengthy story I plan to do based on Fallout, this will be all OCs and will not have spoilers for any of the games, so don't worry if you haven't finished Fallout 4 yet :P I hope this one wasn't boring or anything, and if it seemed kind of pointless it wasn't because I really want to take time to establish story elements with good exposition. Please let me know what you think, and if you want updates on this and other stories from me, follow me on tumblr (Encalamah), or if you want an easy way to ask me stuff. Sorry for folks who expected this to be like my Gravity Falls story, it's veeeeeery different, and I just wanted to do something other than romance writing, so here we have the other end of the spectrum, I hope you guys enjoy it, I'm really excited to be starting this and can't wait to see those reviews. Thank you all for the support!**


	2. Chapter 2

Five.

The whir of hydraulics as his armor's legs braced the impact from jumping three storeys.

Four.

Overcoming the aching in his spine so that he could straighten out and make the dash forward.

Three.

The steady thump of his armored feet grinding against the dusty wasteland earth.

Two.

The shock as the soundwave slams him in the back, barreling him forward despite the weight of the power armor.

One.

The searing heat nearly cooking him in his suit as the explosion engulfs everything within a hundred feet.

Zero.

Every sense fading out as unconsciousness slowly washes over his mind.

One hour earlier.

Sentinel Mark Colvin looked over his new helmet as he held it in both hands. Staring into the black reflective eye lense he could see his own small, grizzled reflection looking back at him. It was too shiny. Right off the shelf. That would change soon no doubt. His scuffle with the supermutant had cost him the last helmet as he had thought, but at least it had warranted an upgrade. As a reward of sorts for the great success in their mission, the Elder had authorized Colvin be issued a T-51 helmet over his current T-45. It looked a little out of place on his suit, but it's not like it was all standard issue anyway.

The Northwest Pacific chapter of the Brotherhood was, as far as all the chapters went, sorely undersupplied. Basically everything they needed had to be acquired by their own means, and that included their staple power armor, and weaponry. Luckily the chapter had captured an old metalworks and converted it to produce bullets, so using ballistic weaponry was not a problem, but energy weapons were a different story. All the chapter's plasma weapons were under lock and key in the armory, with strict orders to be used only when **absolutely** necessary, and laser weapons had to be earned. Only Paladins and Sentinels were allowed to carry laser weaponry into battle, and Colvin was forced to use a laser rifle like the Paladins instead of the standard Sentinel issued gatling laser because fusion cores couldn't be spared to power it.

The chapter's power armor was its own demon. The woes faced on a daily basis by just about every Knight, Paladin, and Sentinel in the chapter were endless, from component and electrical problems to full on armor failure, not to mention the Scribes who had to fix it all. That's why as a rule each Initiate learned how to inspect and maintain armor before even becoming Knights so that workload could be minimized on the already small repair crew. To Colvin it was a relaxing ritual, looking over everything to make sure it was running perfectly. The armor was vital, it's what kept him alive in the field, and it needed to be kept in prime condition to do so.

Yet maintained or not, Knight or Sentinel, one thing remained true about every suit of armor in the chapter, each was unique. With all the time each member spent with their suits, it was inevitable that personal touches would arise. Colvin's suit was a pair of T-60 legs, with T-45 arms and a torso, and topped off with his new T-51 helmet. He had painted the Brotherhood crest onto the torso plate, and had put red stripes running down the shoulder pads. He looked around the Vertibird cargo hold at the rest of his squad.

Torres had full T-45 armor, with the exception of a single T-60 arm. It had the word "slugger" stenciled onto it. Along with this she had kept a tally count of all her kills on her forearm plate, which at this point had spread to the other arm and most of the chestplate. O'Harra had painted a skull graphic onto the front of his helmet. He was rather proud of it, although Colvin thought it was childish. As a newly ranked Knight, O'Harra still had a full suit of T-45, though it had a few scuff marks, he wasn't the first owner. Dobson had various bits of writing etched all over his armor. He was a big reader, and added any lines he liked onto his suit. Colvin always thought it was an interesting dynamic considering Dobson rarely spoke, his armor almost did it for him. He too had a full suit of T-45, with exception of the torso piece, T-51, not very common, but Dobson seemed quite content with it.

"Everyone ready?" Colvin broke the silence of the flight as he slipped on his helmet.

"Yes sir," resounded among the whole squad.

After only two days Mammoth was being sent on a new mission. They were accompanying Talon squad, the chapter's fourth combat team, on a recon and acquisition operation to a building which supposedly housed a large cache of fusion cells. To the Elder it was definitely worth investigating. He wasn't the one who had go on these missions though, he wasn't the one who did the killing. Colvin pushed that aside, it needed to get done, for the good of the Chapter. Not like he hadn't killed before, certainly it wouldn't be last time. According to their scouting information the building was being occupied by a particularly well armed and territorial group or raiders. Talon squad had been watching the place for some time, and deemed that now was a good time to strike.

The two Vertibirds touched down and both squads jumped out. The building was still a few blocks down, but they couldn't risk their transport being damaged. As the birds took off to return to the Tower the squads spread out in a standard sweeping formation and made their way down the debris strewn road. This area was well in Seattle and was heavily urban. Colvin didn't like how all the windows seemed to glare down at them, perfect place for an ambush. After ten silent and tense minutes they approached the target building and were immediately met with gunfire. Both squads quickly found cover and began returning fire. Paladin Bedight, leader of Talon squad, made his way over to Colvin.

"I told you we should have approached from the other side," he said irritably.

"I give the orders around here **Paladin** ," Colvin said harshly, putting emphasis on the rank to remind Bedight of his place, "either way we were in for a fight."

"I'm going to take Talon around the back to flank them."

Before Colvin could stop him he had run off to gather his squad. They ran off to get around the building, passing out of earshot too quickly to be ordered otherwise. Of all the people in the chapter, Colvin always had problems with Arnold Bedight. He was arrogant, cocky, and took needless risks. It was those reasons why the Elder had decided to promote Colvin to Sentinel instead of Bedight, and Colvin knew that Bedight had always hated him for it, and took every opportunity to question his command. It wasn't like Colvin had had anything to do with the decision, Bedight's own actions were his undoing. Regardless, Colvin didn't have to like working with him, he just had to get the job done, so that's what he was going to do.

"Alright Mammoth, let's find our way inside!" Colvin called to his team.

They approached the main doorway while laying down suppressive fire on the enemy shooters. Their power armor deflected the raider bullets with ease, and with only a short advance they reached the doorway. Dobson kicked the door open and they all moved in as one. The hallway beyond had some ramshackle barricades, behind which two raiders opened fire. His squad fired back as they continued to advance inside. As he landed a shot on one of their heads Colvin told himself they were just monsters, murderers, and fought to ignore the hypocriticalness of that belief.

The second raider was quickly dispatched, and his squad entered a side room to find a way around the barricade. Going room by room they advanced through the building, clearing every corner of enemies. The process was slow. The information they had was very accurate, these raiders were well armed, and they fought tooth and nail for every room of that building. After what seemed like hours they reached some sort of armory, and took the time to look for ammo, or any sign of where the fusion cells they were looking for might be. What they found was something none of them expected.

"Tell me you're seeing the same thing guys," Torres said as they all stared at the wall.

"Affirmative," Dobson replied.

"But what's an NCR flag doing here?" O'Harra puzzled.

"Good question Knight," Colvin said, attempting to display calmness and assess the situation.

The New California Republic was not on the best of terms with the Brotherhood. At one point they had been allies, but after years of expansion and growth the NCR realized that the Brotherhood's ideals and their protection of their technology did not align with their own. Needless to say the ensuing war was brutal, and though the Brotherhood had the edge technologically, the NCR's superior numbers eventually won out. The result was a sort of cold war. Both groups stayed out of one another's ways, and though most in the Brotherhood believed in their own superiority, they did not believe that the Brotherhood could survive another full scale war. Here in Seattle though, the NCR was the last thing the chapter was worrying about. Reports had been coming in in recent months about NCR expansion into Oregon, but no one could have anticipated they'd be this far north.

"Look at this sir," O'Harra said as he opened one of the lockers, "NCR uniforms and documents."

"What kind of a raider wears dog tags?" Torres mused as she inspected one of the bodies, plucking the metal tags from around their neck.

"They're all wearing tags," Dobson observed, standing over two more of the corpses.

"So NCR troops posing as raiders," Colvin voiced the entire squad's thoughts, "what are they trying to do? Are they a recon team?"

"What they're going to do is start a war," Torres said angrily, "they shot us on sight, and we're not exactly your run of the mill scavengers."

After pondering the circumstances for a few moments, Colvin decided they should search the rest of the building for more information. They made their way toward the top floor, running into Talon along the way, or at least, half of Talon.

"Where are Paladin Bedight and Knight Andrews?" Colvin asked.

"Fell through some weak flooring sir," Knight Johnson said, "they said they would find their way up to us."

"Alright," Colvin said, irritated, "well then stick with us for now."

"Yes sir."

The top floor was one large open space, and in the center was a massive machine that Colvin immediately recognized as a fusion generator. They had found the source of their fusion cells then. However, something else then caught Colvin's attention, one of the NCR "raiders" was frantically typing at a terminal beside the machine. Colvin quickly ran across the room to stop whatever they were doing. He couldn't risk shooting, it might hit the terminal, and they needed whatever was on it. As he got close the NCR soldier sidestepped his charge, brandishing some sort of weapon. He got behind Colvin before he could react, even with the power armor's increased speed. Colvin heard a loud thunk, like machinery pumping, and then the grate of metal on metal, and then a stabbing pain shot up his spine. The impact sent him sprawling on the floor as he attempted to subdue the pain and regain his footing.

Taking a deep breath Colvin fought off the pain and slowly rose to his feet, expecting another blow from what he now realized must have been a power fist. No attack came, and he turned around to see the NCR trooper at the terminal again while all five Knights closed in on him like a wall of metal. He pressed one final key on the terminal and an alarm began blaring. Suddenly a voice came on on some speakers and echoed through the cavernous room.

"Warning, fusion generator malfunction, meltdown imminent, reach shelter immediately."

"For the NCR!" The trooper screamed as he barreled at all six Knights, still wielding the power fist.

He managed to land a good hit on Dobson, impacting directly on his helmet. The Knight fell onto his knees, clearly stunned by the hit. The soldier raised the power fist for another hit before Torres grabbed him by his raised arm and pulled him backwards to fall onto the floor. Before he could react Torres raised a foot and with a single stomp, crushed the man's skull like a melon. Colvin didn't have time to take in the grisly scene. The peril they were all in suddenly hit him, the generator.

"Sir, I can't reverse the meltdown," O'Harra said in rising fear as he inspected the terminal, "it's completely locked out."

"Everyone to the windows, we're taking the express way down, get as far from the building as you can!" Colvin shouted as they all ran for the windows. Dobson stumbled slightly as he ran, placing a hand on the side of his helmet. Getting hit with a power fist was worse than getting punched by someone in power armor. In fact it was more like getting kicked by someone wearing power armor. There was no doubt in Colvin's mind that Dobson had a concussion, or worse, but right now they had more pressing matters. Colvin leapt forward, breaking through the glass with ease. As he entered the freefall he heard the voice on the speakers from inside the building again.

"Meltdown in… Five-"

The sound of the countdown faded away instantly in a rush of air as he plummeted thirty feet. His suit absorbed the impact as he landed, and though it still hurt his injured back, he fought off the pain again and started sprinting forward. In only four massive strides he had covered at least fifteen feet, when the building exploded behind him, throwing him forward another ten feet. The pain in his back reached a peak as he landed, and the agony combined with the extreme heat and impact pushed Colvin into unconsciousness.

He saw in front of him a wide plain, with sparse grasses cropped around smooth gray boulders. The grass swayed slightly in the gentle breeze. It was so peaceful. Gunfire erupted around him. The field was changed. The rain poured down as explosions and gunshots echoed with the sound of the thunder. Slogging through the thick mud he saw his brothers and sisters advancing, their suit headlamps illuminating the glossy mud. Illuminating the countless corpses of all the Brotherhood's slain enemies, their blood mixing with the muck to form an impeding goo of organs, bones, and earth. Every folly lay before him in a no man's land of sin, a spectacle of his successes as a warrior, and failures as a human being. He was back in the sunshine. The breeze blew through the grasses. A field yet unspoiled, untouched by the ruination that he and his brethren inevitably sewed. It would not be long now, as he turned to see his brothers and sisters, advancing, ever marching toward doom. One of them stopped and looked at him. Torres.

"Sir?" She called to him distantly. He tried to answer, but his mouth was shut, shut in his armor with the rest of his body, nothing but a war machine.

"Sir," she repeated, a bit clearer.

"Angela," he answered, though it sounded all wrong when the word came out.

"Sir can you hear me?" Her voice was clear as day.

"Yes."

"Get up sir, you have to get up!"

Colvin opened his eyes and was met with the earth in his face. He slowly rose to see Torres standing in front of him, hand extending in assistance, the building's ruins burning behind her. He took her hand and got to his feet, his legs shaky after the incident.

"What-" he began, but needed a few more moments to adjust, "what's our status?" He asked after some struggle.

"O'Harra, Tif, Johnson, and me are all alright, still no sign of Bedight or Andrews, but sir," her voice quavered at the end, "Dobson is in a bad way sir…"

She led him over to a gnarled tree nearby, against which Dobson was propped. Most of him at least. His right leg was missing from the knee down, and his armor was covered in scorch marks and shrapnel wounds out of which blood was oozing. At least the leg seemed to have been cauterized in the blast, it didn't seem to be bleeding.

"I don't think I'm going to make it sir," Dobson said weakly.

"Hey, don't say that," Colvin tried to sound confident, kneeling beside the wounded Knight, "you're going to be fine Dobson, the birds will be here soon to pick us up." He turned to Torres, "Get our evac here, hot pick-up, we have to get him back to the Tower."

Torres called for the pick-up on her radio, and the Vertibirds informed them they would be there in around ten minutes. In the meantime they tried to tend to Dobson as best they could. After a few minutes of agonizing waiting, Bedight appeared. His armor was scorched almost completely black and caked in soot, but he seemed mostly unharmed, and he was alone.

"Where's Andrews?" Knight Johnson asked with a pang of worry in her voice.

"He didn't make it," Bedight said quietly, "One of the bastards landed a shot on his leg, knee servos seized. We got buried under the building as I was trying to drag him out… the trauma must have killed him."

"Well then you'll have to be the one to tell the Elder that his son is dead," Colvin said flatly.

"Me?! He died under your command!" Bedight exclaimed defensively.

"My command?" Colvin rose to his feet in gathering rage, threatening to break his composure and spill forth. "You decided to take it into your own hands and disobey my orders, if we had all followed my plan of attack this wouldn't have happened. Now shut your mouth, and learn, your, place, Paladin Bedight. Now I'll leave you to decide what you're going to tell the Elder while I try to keep another one of our Knights from dying." Colvin stomped off fuming to tend to Dobson.

The Vertibirds came in and picked them up. They carefully loaded Dobson onboard. The trip to the Tower was silent as usual. Along the way Dobson passed out, but was still breathing. As soon as they touched down on the Tower they rushed him to the medical clinic. Once Colvin knew that Dobson was being taken care of he went to the Elder with Bedight to give his report.

Understandably the Elder was crushed by the death of his son. He seemed uninterested in the report of the battle, though he was furious with Bedight. For disobeying Colvin's orders he was under threat of being demoted to Knight, pending the Elder's decision. Bedight's pride got the better of him, and he snapped about it being Colvin's fault, then the Elder really became furious.

"Insolence," his roaring voice echoed through the chamber, "first you defy the Sentinel's order, and now you dare to question mine? I am Elder, my word is our law! You have proven your incapability of command with your disregard for the chain of authority, we are led by our martial prowess and tradition, and you have disrespected that. I strip you of your rank as Paladin and your command, now get out of my sight."

As Bedight stormed off, the Elder turned to Colvin.

"I am sorry Sentinel, I'm sure you can understand my emotional state given the circumstances," Colvin said nothing, "now, the matter of the NCR. Their presence so near to our outpost is… worrying to say the least."

"What sort of response shall we take Elder?" Colvin asked.

"Nothing," he answered, as he turned to the window and stared out over the ruins of Seattle, he sighed deeply, "Let us hope Sentinel, that we did not just kick a hornet's nest."

 **A/N: Hello readers. With my new job I'm hoping to get a lot more content to you guys in the near future. If you have any friends that are Fallout fans please recommend this to them, it doesn't seem to be as popular as my other story, which seems kind of ironic. Anywho I'd appreciate anyone spreading the word about it. Also my tumblr is pretty cool if you like story updates and sneak peaks and such. Finally, I just want to say thank you to all the people who read my stories. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read it and it's a great feeling to know people enjoy what I write, I love all you people. Leave me some feedback on this story, I like reading the reviews and seeing what people think of my work. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

A branch snapped under the weight of Francis O'Harra's armored foot. The sound startled him slightly. Even after two centuries of radiation, Washington's forests were still rather beautiful, but they made him jumpy. Especially being on his own like this. He knew that Sentinel Colvin and Torres were nearby somewhere, but he was still feeling uneasy, like he was being watched.

It had been a week since the incident with the NCR troops, and now it seemed that the chapter's issues with the Republic were only just beginning. While scouting, Talon squad had reported that a large force of the NCR military was set up near Alder Lake, about forty miles south of Seattle. The development had worried the Elder, and so he decided to take action before the NCR made their inevitable move into the city. He dispatched all four combat squads, even though Talon and Mammoth were both shorthanded. No replacement had been found for Knight Andrews, and now with Bedight back to Knight rank the Elder had promoted Tif to Paladin to lead Talon. Dobson had slipped into a coma because of his injuries, and although he was still alive, Mammoth was down a member as well for the time being.

All four combat teams had been dropped into the area around Alder Lake, and were now sweeping the woods for perimeter defenses as they slowly moved in on the NCR base. They had been dropped miles away to not reveal their location, the Elder wanted this to go off flawlessly. With the element of surprise the NCR troops would have no idea what hit them. O'Harra suddenly heard a series of gunshots to his left, and quickly made his way in that direction. He reached a bit of a clearing, and found two Knights there. One lay on the ground, dead, and the other was kneeling over him. O'Harra recognized the kneeling one and approached.

"Bedight," he said urgently, "what happened?"

"NCR bastards," Bedight rose slowly, "took us by surprise, killed Johnson, then ran off into the woods."

"Well we have to catch up and take them out, they'll warn the camp that we're coming."

"We can't do that O'Harra," Bedight said flatly.

"Why not?" He turned his attention from the woods to Bedight, just in time to see the rifle raised in his face and the muzzle flash.

Colvin heard a second burst of gunfire from the woods. He had been following the first set for some time now, and with the second he could tell he was close to the source. After a few more minutes he reached a small marshy clearing. There near the edge he saw two bodies, both in power armor. He ran over to the corpses and kneeled down to inspect them. Johnson and O'Harra. His stomach dropped, as the reality hit him. O'Harra. Just a kid. He was just a goddamn kid. The skull painted onto his helmet was deformed from where the bullet had entered his head. Just a kid.

Driving the grief and the disgust to the back of his mind as always, Colvin placed a hand on O'Harra's chest and paid his respect. He did the same for Johnson, taking both of their holotags afterwards. Looking around he noticed something, a set of footprints, definitely power armor, heading off into the woods toward the NCR positions. Someone had survived, but why had they left the holotags behind? Colvin promptly began following the trail, power armor left a very distinct path in its wake. As he tracked whoever it was, there was a feeling he couldn't shake, guilt. Grief and disgust were nothing new, he killed, he knew people, friends, who had been killed, these were easy to lock away in the depths of his psyche, but guilt; guilt was different. Guilt was the burden on every combat leader's shoulders. The guilt of giving the wrong orders, the guilt of not doing something differently, the guilt of letting a fucking boy die out in the middle of the god forsaken woods for no good reason. Guilt, it ate people alive.

The sudden cacophony of what sounded like a spectacular firefight pushed Colvin into a full sprint. He ran for at least a mile before he reached an ending in the trees. He stood at the edge of a wide, shallow streambed. The water was steadily turning a deep red. Looking upstream he saw the source, Wyvern squad, all laying lifeless in the slow water. Looking downstream he could see dozens of NCR troops slowly advancing back toward their base. He was able to catch the sight of a man in an NCR officer's uniform shaking hands with Bedight, right before they both boarded an NCR Vertibird.

"That fucking traitorous-" Colvin growled, his rage preventing him from even finding the words. He saw the Vertibird take off and disappear behind the trees, heading north.

He left the cover of the trees and made his way up the stream to where Wyvern squad lay. As he looked over the bodies one of them stirred. Colvin ran over and bent down to turn them on their back. It was Yin. He pulled off her helmet to see if she was alive, her eyes seemed unfocused.

"Who is that?" She mumbled weakly.

"It's me," he said, removing his own helmet, "it's Colvin."

"Colvin," she seemed to focus more as she saw his face, "it was a trap, they knew we were coming."

"Bedight, he sold us out, he's working with the NCR, he killed Johnson…. And O'Harra..." Colvin tried to explain everything frantically.

"It's not your fault," she said as she saw the sadness in his eyes, "you always take it all so personally."

"I have to, that's my job."

"Ever the professional," she smirked, "well I guess it doesn't matter now but... I've always kind of had a thing for you, funny what people admit on their deathbeds."

"Hey don't talk like that, you'll make it out of this," he tried to sound confident.

"Always so hopeful," she smiled as she gently ran the fingertips of her gauntlet down his jaw, "you could be so much more Mark… If you just… Let yourself…"

She took his hand in hers and squeezed, until slowly her grip slackened, and her hand slid lifelessly into the stream. Colvin stared into her lifeless eyes for what seemed like forever, and that was it. Something snapped inside of him, and all the grief, and the disgust, the blood, the killing, the gore, the screams, death, failure, every horror broke the dam in the back of his mind and flooded his reality. Suddenly he felt nothing, all of it, meant nothing, he was war, and that's all he had ever been. He took Yin's holotag, and put his helmet back on, rising slowly to his feet. At full speed he began sprinting down the stream toward the marching NCR troops.

In fifteen seconds he had nearly caught up to them. The loud thump of his steps was loud enough for one of them to hear and turn to face him just in time to see Colvin's leg swing forward. The kick landed on his knee, shattering it backwards. The man let out an agonizing scream and fell into the water, causing all the others to turn toward the noise. Colvin put a single laser blast into the man's head to end his life. All the NCR troops opened fire in a panic, their wild bullets skipping harmlessly off his power armor. In a fluid motion Colvin raised his laser rifle and began firing shots one after another. With training drill accuracy he landed every single shot on his targets. The pathetic NCR uniforms did nothing to stop energy fire, and Colvin's rifle cleanly punched holes through torsos, heads, and arms. Within a minute, thirty-seven troopers lay dead in the stream. One remaining survivor was frantically dragging himself down the streambed in an attempt to escape. His leg had been badly wounded by the laser rifle and he couldn't walk. Colvin put a fresh fusion cell in his rifle and stalked through the water toward the straggler.

"Oh god, oh god, no please," the man whimpered as he tried dragging himself faster. Colvin kicked him over onto his back and pointed his rifle at his torso.

"No, please! Please!" He begged hysterically, attempting to look Colvin in the visor.

Colvin met the man's gaze, but it didn't matter, there was nothing in his eyes now, he was simply a reaper, a war engine, and there would be no mercy today.

"No." Colvin said coldly and kept pulling the trigger until his target was reduced to nothing but ash. It mixed with the water and floated away in the current. Colvin looked around him at the corpses strewn across the streambed. He took one step then collapsed onto his knees. Three pairs of holotags fell from his hand. He hadn't noticed it, but tears had been streaming down his face through the entire firefight, now he broke down in sobs. He bent his head down until it nearly touched the pebbles in the water. Dead. Everyone. He lifted his head toward the sky and screamed, rage and brokenness pouring out all at once, cursing… Anyone, whatever sort of being was up there watching. There was no answer. Whatever god there had been before, the bombs had killed them along with the planet. Now there was only man, and he merely continued killing.

"Sir?" He heard a familiar voice behind him. He didn't answer, he simply stared at the bloody water trickling past him. How long had he been sitting there?

"Sir?" The voice asked again, "are you alright?"

"Angela," he answered hoarsely.

"What happened here?" She asked cautiously.

"I- I killed them all… Like the dogs they were… I slaughtered them…"

"You did the right thing sir," she said, confusion and fear mixing into her voice.

"They're all dead." He said flatly. "Yin, O'Harra, Johnson, all of them." He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Then try and save the ones who aren't."

Colvin rose to his feet. She was right, he still had a duty to her at least, and to Dobson, and everyone else back at the Tower. He still had to carry the weight of leadership for them. He replaced the dam in his mind again, keeping everything in, like he always did. He put down an emergency flare, and within minutes a Vertibird came down into the streambed. The door slid open to reveal Paladin Tif, and Knights Star and Halden already on board.

"At least someone else made it," Tif said in relief as they climbed aboard. "This all that's left of your squad?"

"Yeah," Colvin said sadly.

"Wyvern?"

Colvin simply shook his head.

"What the hell happened?!" He asked angrily.

"Bedight sold us out, he's working with the NCR, he told them we were coming."

"No way!" Tif protested, "Arnold might be an asshole sometimes, but he would never betray us like that."

"He killed Johnson and O'Harra, and I watched him board a Vertibird with an NCR officer, right after exchanging a handshake."

"Maybe he's being forced to do it somehow," Tif retorted, refusing to believe what Colvin was saying.

"No. He's a traitor. It's only a matter of time before he tells one of us. In the meantime, I suppose I'm in command here, so we're headed to the Tower, the NCR bird was headed north, so my money's on that being their next target. NCR troops will have to go in on foot, so we should be able to beat them there."

"What do we do when we get there? Fight off the whole NCR force?" Torres asked, almost hopefully.

"No," he said after some thought, "we need to evacuate the Tower, grab what we can and who we can, and get out."

"And go where?" Tif asked.

"We'll ask the Elder, it's up to him, for now those are my orders."

They all nodded in agreement. Soon the Tower came within view. Under Colvin's suggestion, they landed on the ground instead of on the roof, they needed to get supplies from the main buildings. As they got out Colvin began giving orders.

"Tif, round up everyone you can find to help carry equipment. Star, start gathering provisions, food water, clothes, anything we'll need. Halden, gather weapons and ammo, above all make sure to get every single one of those plasma cores for our power armor that we have, we don't want the NCR getting them. Torres, get all the medical supplies you can, and see about moving Dobson to take him with us. Everyone pile everything by the elevator going up to the Tower, and we'll load it all on the birds at the top. I'm going up now to see if the Elder has different orders, but for now time is crucial so get going."

They all spread out to do their jobs, and Colvin boarded the elevator up to the Tower. As the doors slid open and he exited he was just in time to catch the ending to a conversation the Elder was having with Bedight.

"And I'll put you in the ground just like I did your stupid son, and then I'll rebuild this chapter as the new Elder, so we can be strong again-" he stopped as he noticed Colvin enter the room, they both drew their weapons on each other and fired. Colvin ducked behind a cabinet for cover. Taking this opportunity, Elder Andrews seized a ripper from a nearby table. Without hesitation he jammed the weapon between the shoulder pad and helmet of Bedight's armor and turned it on. A jet of gore shot outward as his throat was instantly eviscerated.

"This is for my son you fucking scum!" The Elder screamed in fury as Bedight fell to his knees. Andrews removed the weapon from his throat and threw it to the ground. Bedight desperately tried to grab his neck to stop the bleeding, clawing at his helmet in futility. A faint gurgle escaped his helmet's speaker before he crumpled onto the floor in a growing pool of his own blood. Another voice interrupted any sort of sense of relief.

"Well done Elder, one less loose end to tie up."

The Elder and Colvin both turned to see the NCR officer that had shaken Bedight's hand, standing by the stairs going up to the landing pad. He brandished a large high caliber revolver, even in power armor a shot from that could easily kill Colvin outright.

"Who are you then?" The Elder asked calmly.

"Commander Joseph Wai of the NCR, and because of your hostile actions I'm here to declare war on your little society."

"You attacked us first, your scouts posing as raiders opened fire on us with no provocation," Colvin cut in angrily.

"No one's going to know that, it's dangerous around here, our troops simply had to defend themselves, that's all the people of the NCR are going to need, and who's going to tell them otherwise? You? Then we can finally crush your nuisance of a military force and the NCR can move on to better things."

"You may kill me," Elder Andrews said stoically, "your plot has already robbed me of my son it seems, but you should know, the Brotherhood will always endure, no matter what the NCR thinks they can do."

"That's why I plan on killing you all right here," the blast from the revolver echoed through the room, as the Elder fell to the ground with a bullet in his chest. Colvin was on Wai before the NCR commander could even turn the gun on him. He gripped the barrel and crushed it beyond use. In a panic, Wai ran to the roof, and Colvin followed. On the landing pad stood the NCR Vertibird, along with the pilot and a guard. Colvin quickly dispatched them both with his laser rifle and continued to follow Wai. The commander tripped and fell in fear, and Colvin grasped him by the throat, lifting him easily off his feet, and carried him to the edge.

"You can't do this," Wai croaked, gasping for air in Colvin's iron grip, "I'm an officer of the NCR, protected as an- unarmed prisoner of war."

"But you can start a war with whoever you want to, kill whoever you need that gets in your way? Well you've started something here commander, and there are consequences we must face, for all our actions," Colvin said grimly, "Enjoy your war." He released Wai, the man's scream was drowned out by the wind as he plummeted to the ground. Returning down the stairs Colvin found the Elder, still alive, but barely. Andrews beckoned him close as he lay on the floor in a mixed pool of Bedight's and his own blood.

"You… Must lead them Mark…" He wheezed, "keep them safe… Survive…"

"Where? Where do we go Elder?" Colvin asked in desperation.

"Alaska… Find…. Them…" With that the Elder exhaled his last breath, leaving Colvin lost, with no guidance but those few unfinished words.

Not knowing what else to do, he took the elevator back down to see how the supply gathering was going. Almost everything they needed was piled around the Tower's base, and all the other chapter members were safe. Slowly they began to move everything up onto the landing pad. They loaded all four Vertibirds, as well as the NCR bird that the commander had landed on the roof, this allowed them to take everyone and everything they needed, even Dobson, who was deemed movable by the clinic. All in all, the chapter now numbered sixteen. Colvin, Torres, Halden, Star, and Tif, Head Scribe Nurian, five Lancers, four scribes, and the clinic doctor. All of them met on the landing pad before boarding the Vertibirds.

"Everyone is wondering where we are going," Colvin began, loud enough for all to hear, "as his final direction, the Elder told me that we are to go to Alaska, for what reason I'm unsure, he told us to 'find them', but didn't specify who they were exactly."

"If I might interrupt Sentinel," Nurian spoke up, "I believe he was referring to another chapter, it is known that an expedition was sent north some time ago to Alaska, it was a major battleground in the wars prior to the fall of the bombs, and likely held many military relics, but we have had no contact with that chapter in many years."

"Then I suppose it's a start, and at least the NCR won't follow us," Colvin continued.

"We still need an Elder though, so that we can at least keep the chapter ordered," Nurian reminded them.

"Before he died," Colvin said, "the Elder told me to lead all of you, but I am no Elder, and I don't presume to be one, the Elder is voted in, and I will not be one to break that custom."

"Everyone for Colvin as Elder?" Torres called out. Every hand went up. "All opposed?" Silence. Not exactly a formal ceremony, but that seemed to settle it. Colvin felt a whole new weight suddenly drop on his shoulders.

"Well," Torres began, "looks like we're taking your lead Elder Colvin."

 **A/N: Hello friends, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know what you're thinking, "everything just went to hell!" And yes it did, but this story is far from over. The story is called Shattered Brotherhood, but after something shatters, you've got to try and put it back together. As always thank you for reading, reviewing, and following, all support means a lot, and follow mah tumblr if you want sneak peeks at new stories and chapters before they come out! I really would like more people on there so if you're interested don't hesitate! Don't forget to tell me what you think about this chapter!**

 **-Encalamah**


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